Surface mounted electrical connectors may include strain relief mechanisms. Known strain relief mechanisms may take the form of connector posts that extend into a surface of a mounting substrate. However, creating post receiving through holes in a printed circuit board (PCB) is not acceptable in some applications because of the extra manufacturing step and the reduction in usable board space. Therefore, other connectors include a surface mounted strain relief member. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,969,829 discloses a strain relief tab that is surface mounted to a substrate.
These strain relief concepts are used to compensate for coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) mismatches, which in turn can cause electrical connectivity breaks at the intersection of the connector contacts and the surface of the PCB. However, surface mounted connectors may also be subjected to uni-directional shear load forces caused by orthogonally mated boards, such as a vertical motherboard connector connected to an orthogonally mated daughter card. This shear load force, which is a function of the mass of the orthogonally mated daughter card, the length of the card with respect to the connection, and gravity, can impart a significant shear force on connectors that are surface mounted to the motherboard. Therefore, there is a need for a surface mounted strain relief member that can retard CTE mismatches and carry a shear load.